David Chow, Chief Executive and Co-Chairman of Macau Legend Development, says the investment that his company is making in Cape Verde will encourage more Macao companies to follow suit.

Gaming services company Macau Legend Development will invest at least 250 million euros (US$273.7 million) in an integrated leisure entertainment project in Cape Verde through two local subsidiaries. Mr Chow and Leonesa Fortes, Cape Verde’s Minister of Tourism, Investments and Business Development, signed last month in Macao the agreement to develop the casino resort.

“We consider this investment in Cape Verde a great opportunity that allows a Macao enterprise to make use of the Sino-Portuguese [Lusophone] platform to expand its business overseas,” Mr Chow said in a press release on Wednesday, following his firm’s results announcement.

He added: “The project follows the China Government’s national policy ‘One belt, one road’, a strategy to help position Macao as one of the important cities on the Maritime Silk Road, and has the potential to lead the small and medium enterprises of Macao to expand internationally.”

On Wednesday – speaking during a tourism-related meeting in Cape Verde’s capital city, Praia – Ms Fortes said that tourism revenue accounts for 20 percent of Cape Verde’s gross domestic product.

The official said the Government’s goal is for the country to be able to receive one million visitors per year by 2020. Visitor arrivals to the archipelago numbered 278,888 in the first six months of 2015, up by 2 percent from the prior-year period.

“Our goal is to have one million tourists by 2020, which is within our reach. We have the conditions to reach that goal,” said Ms Fortes, quoted by local media.